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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26291005">The Boy with a Sketchbook</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agacerie/pseuds/Agacerie'>Agacerie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Art as bonding device, Bonding, Canon Compliant, Crush, Lorenz lowkey no homoing here, M/M, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, lots of feelings, lots of flowery dialogue, slowburn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:07:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26291005</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agacerie/pseuds/Agacerie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorenz thought he had everything figured out of his future. Of his duty as a noble, and his ambitions to be the finest nobleman of all noblemen.</p><p>Everything was so clear, until one day Lorenz met one boy with a sketchbook which makes things much, much messier.</p><p>(Written for ultra rarepair bigbang 2020)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Ignatz Victor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2020 Ultra Rarepair Big Bang</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Boy with a Sketchbook</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was for the FE3h Ultra Rarepair Bigbang 2020. I'd happily thank the event organizers for making this event possible, as well as my partner @/Nikobyknight, for helping me with this fic. This is different from my usual stuff, as I don't often write ship fics. In fact, I think this may be my first fic with explict romance in it. Well, I'm happy that it ended up being this one.</p><p>Regardless, I hope you enjoy this fic. This is the first of three parts, the latter two which will be published during this weekend.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lorenz Hellman Gloucester thought he had everything figured out. His future. His duty as a noble and a successor to his father,Count Gloucester. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lorenz had everything figured out of his life. He was more than confident about his future and had all his ambitious plans carefully thought out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That is, until he met one boy drawing into a sketchbook, which messed every little ambition he had up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time Lorenz met the boy with a sketchbook was in the Officers Academy. Lorenz didn’t really think much of him. His appearance was, for lack of better word, modest. Just a short young man with glasses. His uniform was rather unremarkable, nothing to speak of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just another commoner, Lorenz thought to himself. From what had heard, it wasn’t too uncommon for commoners to apply to the Officers Academy. Many children of merchants and other common folk tried often to apply to the Academy in hopes of becoming knights in the future. Becoming a knight was the utmost honor for one's family and could help with their status. It was all in all, an understandable move to do. Even then, Lorenz had hard time to believe that</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lorentz would forget the boy for a while. Even if they belonged to the same house, the Golden Deers, the boy was just another face in the class. Just another quiet student, who would just be in the background. Just another wallflower. There were other, much more important students to worry about. Such as the leader of their house, Claude. The young man, who could unfortunately become the head of Leicester Alliance. Or that studious young lady from House Ordelia. Or Margrave Edmund’s aloof adopted daughter. Or their professor, a former mercenary who barely could emote.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Out of all his fellow classmates, the timid boy with glasses was the last one he thought would change his life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh how wrong Lorenz Hellman Gloucester was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The threads of fate would start to play its cruel game the next time they met.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>The vast and flourishing academy courtyards were a popular place for students to hang out between classes. Many students mingled within the courtyards. They’d chatter, gossip and have tea in the gardens. Just the normal things that youth were doing. During the free time, there was little difference in which house a student belonged to, or what their family’s status was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Here, at the monastery courtyards, everyone was an equal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Lorenz walks across the courtyard, he notices the quiet boy drawing in a sketchbook. At first, he didn’t give much attention to the boy. His eyes quickly peer to the sketchbook, and the pen, rapidly drawing as if he was in trance.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>So, he has sensibilities for art</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Lorenz thought for himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Perhaps I should give a look and ask what he is drawing.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Lorenz went close to the boy, trying to peek in what he was drawing. He slowly walked towards him, as if trying to avoid direct attention. To no avail, as the boy turned around faster than expected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"EEEEEEEGH!" the boy let out a soft yet somehow piercing scream . His pen dropped  faster than an arrow. He hastily put the sketchbook behind his back, eyeing his gaze rapidly back and forth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What were you doing?" Lorenz asked him, leaning towards him, as if he tried to peek behind his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No-nothing," the boy stammered words,trying to avoid direct eye contact. "I wasn’t doing anything at all."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you sure about that?"  Lorenz asked, with a somewhat assertive tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy rapidly jumped up and ran away fast as wind, stumbling with each footstep, leaving Lorentz alone.</span>
</p><p><span>"That was certainly someone," Lorenz wondered out loud. </span><em><span>I don’t even know his name.</span></em> <em><span>Well, it doesn’t matter. There are certainly things I should be more worried about.</span></em></p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Days pass as the classes study hard. Between classes, practice spars and homework, being a student at the Monastery was a rather busy life. Especially for someone like Lorenz. Sure, studies mattered to him quite a bit, but so did the social life. Socializing was an important part of a prestigious noble’s life. Especially socializing with women. After all, finding marriage was a very important part of one's life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Studying and personal relationships between classmates weren’t the only things the students of Garreg Mach Monastery had to worry about. Once in a month, the students would be sent to missions by the Archbishop. To defeat bandits. To quell a starting rebellion. To retrieve a lost relic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All this while Lorenz still had the boy in his mind. No matter what, he couldn’t escape the thought of the timid boy or his drawings. Even if he tried to forget and think about something else, the thoughts would just flood back in, like an inescapable void that could devour from inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the days passed, he continued to wonder about what could’ve the boy had drawn? He had worked on so intensely, it must have been something beautiful, Something magnificent. Something spectacular. The mystery of what the boy drew captivated Lorenz. No matter what, it didn’t leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Lorenz continued pondering the boy with a sketchbook, he came to two horrible realizations.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>First off, the boy was a commoner. Why did a mere commoner interest someone as prestigious and sophisticated as Lorenz?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Secondly, Lorenz didn’t even know the boy's name.Sure, the boy was part of his house. And sure, he had heard the name maybe once or twice. But even then it had been when he still had no interest in him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite these realizations, Lorenz was set in his goals. No matter what, he would meet the boy with a sketchbook. And hopefully, things would go way smoother than they had the last time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And as the Progenitor God may have it, they’d encounter each other again.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Sometimes their classes professor would set the students to do various tasks in pairs. The tasks would vary from taking care of horses, to cleaning the weeds to skywatching. Lorenz was tasked with stable duty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And taking care of horses was something that Lorenz was excelled at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And like if fate was playing prank on Lorenz, his partner ended up being the boy that, oh so unpleasantly, had been occupying his thoughts lately. This both cherished and dreaded Lorentz. On one hand, he had to work with the boy who had plagued his thoughts. On the other<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were awkwardly eyeing at each other. No words. Just long, cold, awkward silence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So, it looks like you are my partner," Lorenz attempted to break the ice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ehh?" The boy awkwardly asked. "Yes, Yes I am." He stammered his words back and forth,barely getting them through. He didn’t even attempt at eye contact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Figured," Lorenz mumbled half out to himself. "So, what is your name? Since we are classmates and working together, I figured I should ask."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You don’t remember?" The boy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well I admit, sometimes things get out of my memory," Lorenz admitted. "Afterall, a true nobleman such as myself should prioritize on whats important."<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I see," The boy stammered his words, looking intently at his horse.<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, what is it?" Lorenz asked nonchalantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ignatz," The boy said with a barely hearable tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two continued taking care of their horses, only exchanging gazes every other moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This would be the beginning of something entirely new. And be the start of a relationship that would pull brakes on everything that Lorenz had planned until that point.</span>
</p><p> </p>
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